'No one is more authoritative on the history of Italian food and its culture and the influence it has had on the world, . . . an addictive read for anyone interested in the dolce vita.' - Angela Hartnett

'Food and culture of Italy come together in this fantastic and must-have book from John Dickie.' - Giorgio Locatelli

'If only we could all write as brilliantly on Italy and its food as John Dickie does. He may well know Italy and Italians better than they know themselves.' - Stanley Tucci


The new edition of the much-loved classic, with a fresh chapter that brings the surprising and moreish tale of the Italian way of eating right up to the present.

Delizia! takes the reader on a revelatory historical journey through the flavours of the cities that shaped the Italian love for good eating. From the bustle of Medieval Milan, to the bombast of Fascist Rome; from the pleasure gardens of Renaissance Ferrara, to the putrid alleyways of nineteenth-century Naples. In rich slices of Italian life, Delizia! shows how violence and intrigue, as well as taste and creativity, went to make the world's favourite cuisine.

With its mix of vivid story-telling, ground-breaking research and shrewd analysis, John Dickie's Delizia! is as appetising as the dishes it describes.

John Dickie is Professor of Italian Studies at University College London. Hodder & Stoughton published his Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia in 2004, to ecstatic reviews. It became an international bestseller, with over 20 translations, and won the CWA Dagger Award for Non-fiction that year. Since then he has published Delizia!: The Epic History of the Italians and their Food (2007) - now a six-part TV series for HIstory Channel Italia and other networks worldwide. His most recent books are Mafia Brotherhoods (2011) and Mafia Republic: Italy's Criminal Curse (2013).

In 2005 the President of the Italian Republic appointed him a Commendatore dell'Ordine della Stella della Solidarieta Italiana.